The Hundred: Mahela Jayawardene backs the format for Olympics consideration

There has been a debate for a long time to include cricket as a sport in the Olympic games. Olympic games are given paramount importance on the world map and to include one of the most followed games has always been a talking point there. In the latest turn of events, it has been reported that there is a bid for the inclusion of sports at Los Angeles 2028 and it has received backing from ICC too.

However, it is yet to be decided which format of the game has to be proposed. Mahela Jayawardene who is sitting on the ICC’s own cricket committee, that is considering over the format to be proposed, has backed the new 100-ball format The Hundred. It has to be noted that Jayawardene is the coach of the Southern Brave men’s team, one of the franchises of The Hundred.

Mahela Jayawardene in favor of considering The Hundred for Olympics

“We will have to wait and see once the tournament has kicked off, the enthusiasm for it and how people embrace it. T20 was discussed as a format, T10 is an option, so why not the Hundred? If it goes well, the time is compact and you get to finish in two and a half hours – it would be brilliant,” said Jayawardene as quoted by The Daily Mail.

Any choice of format that will move up for the nod will have to be approved by the IOC and will have to come under the aegis of the international federation, which will be ICC in the case of cricket. The sports programme for 2020 Los Angeles will have to be sorted by the end of February in 2022 at the IOC Beijing session. It has to be noted that cricket has been included in Olympics only once so far which was in 1900.

Jayawardene has been backing The Hundred as it can bind the interest of the audience and gets wrapped up in quick 2.5 hours. However, the new format is currently on and it will be only by the end that people will get to know how much attention it received.